Defence hack a warning: Pyne

Wye River fire path

Animation shows the path of the Wye River fire that claimed 116 homes.
Vision - www.emergencyaus.info

The confidential state government files reveal that three days after a lightning strike on December 19 caused a small, half-hectare blaze to begin near Wye River, Victorian fire officials ordered a controlled burn operation which included the dropping of small fireballs from aircraft.

The files also detail a warning that this controlled burning operation could have had catastrophic consequences, causing a bigger blaze that would threaten houses.

CFA firefighters had to face the full force of the Christmas Day fire at Wye River. Photo: Country Fire Authority

The fact that the backburn operation and associated warnings have not been publicly detailed by the state government or Emergency Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley since the Wye Rive fire has prompted accusations of a cover-up from fire-fighting officials and local residents, who are also demanding an independent inquiry.

Leaked Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning firefighting reports reveal that the decision to launch the controlled burn operation was approved by the state government officials, despite warnings about what could go wrong.

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One report, from December 22, states that "state approval was sought to conduct controlled burning [backburning] operations in the [Wye River fire] area", including "aerial incendiary lighting" and starting fires by hand.

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It was one of four firefighting options discussed by senior officials and its aim was to allow firefighters to better tackle the still relatively small blaze near Wye River, including by guiding it to more hospitable bushland and to control lines that could be accessed.

Firefighter Anna Cutriss inspects a burnt out car in Wye River on December 27. Photo: Chris Hopkins

Over the next 24 hours, the fire escaped containment lines, expanding to 2080 hectares on Christmas Day. Spot fires also broke out and 116 houses in Wye River and Separation Creek were destroyed.

Fire officials from several agencies involved in battling the blaze told Fairfax Media that they were angry that the state government and Mr Lapsley had not publicly explained why the backburn operation was carried out in the presence of extreme fuel conditions and predicted very high fire danger.

The officials also questioned why more effort was not made to control the blaze when it was smaller - in the days before the backburning - and why fuel reduction burning had not been carried out during cooler weather in the previous months or years.

Fire damage to property seen from the air on December 27. Photo: Paul Jeffers

The officials have also pointed out that firefighters were able to contain the Delaney Road fire, which also started out as a small fire in the same vicinity and time of the Wye River fire, without the use of back-burning.

Mr Lapsley confirmed a controlled burn-out took place from December 22.

Wye River on Decembeer 27 after the fires rolled through. Photo: Chris Hopkins

He said the fire was in deep, inaccessible country and it could not be extinguished. He said a decision was made by the incident controller, with support from the regional controller and himself and his team to conduct a burn-out when conditions were milder.

He said this decision was made public to residents at community meetings on December 23.

The aim was to bring the fire out into country where it could be controlled. However, firefighters could not access the fire still burning in a deep gorge before the weather changed.

It's from this gorge that strong northerly winds picked the fire up and flicked it over a ridge, causing three spot fires, and onto a path straight to Wye River on Christmas Day, Mr Lapsley said.

"We knew the risks and you're damned if you do and damned if you don't," he said.

"You've got to try and bring it and finish it and if you do nothing it creeps around by itself and it ends up in the same spot anyway.

"We have to trust the people in the seat at the time and they're experienced bush people."

Mr Lapsley said he believed the fire would have done exactly the same thing even if controlled burns were not conducted. He said "every option" to control the fire was taken before the decision was made to burn out.

"They exhausted every option before they put fire into it," he said.

He said an investigation into the fire by the Inspector-General for Emergency Management would be a sufficient response.

"That will be published to a community so it's transparent," he said.

Wye River resident Sherryl Smith, whose home was destroyed, said an independent investigation was "absolutely imperative".

She said she would accept if an investigation found that the decision to burn out was the right one. If not, "we need serious policy management change", she said.

"We're going to get more frequent, hotter fires and we need to now put policies in place that deal with that and instead of contain and control, to now extinguish as soon as possible," she said.

The Institute of Foresters Australia have also released a statement questioning why the Wye River fire was not contained when it was still small, calling for an independent inquiry to probe what it describes as "the elephant in the room - how the initial fire [grew] to be such a problem in the first place?".

"Experienced foresters find it hard to comprehend that a small, lightning-caused fire in relatively accessible forest, could not be contained after five days of benign weather conditions before Christmas," said the institute's chairman, Gary Featherston.

Mr Featherston also questioned Mr Lapsley's previous public comments that the Wye River fire surged out of control because of the terrain and heavy fuel loads built up over decades.

"Foresters experienced in fire-fighting say that the area is no more inaccessible than country in East Gippsland and north-east Victoria where multiple lightning fires are common, and are typically controlled quickly," Mr Featherston said.

Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett did not answer questions from Fairfax Media about the backburning, saying it was an operational issue for firefighting authorities. Instead, the minister issued a statement that repeated comments she'd made on January 7. Ms Garrett said that emergency services did an "extraordinary job to safely evacuate hundreds of homes, contain the blaze over many days and ensure that no lives were lost".

"Given the significance of the Wye River fire and in line with normal practice, I have written to the Inspector-General for Emergency Management to look at what lessons can be learnt," she said on January 7.

But fire officials who spoke confidentially to Fairfax Media said that the Inspector-General did not have the power or resources to undertake a thorough and independent inquiry, similar to that conducted after the Lancefield fire in November, which was started by back-burning.

The officials said that the department's eagerness to perform backburning operations needed to be examined in the light of the Wye River fire.

The damning Lancefield fire inquiry concluded that the controlled burn which started the blaze was inadequately planned, inadequately staffed and that department staff did not properly appreciate the risks associated with conducting the burn.

Responding to the Lancefield report last year, Environment Minister Lisa Neville said: "What's occurred in Lancefield was unacceptable and the department would now work hard to ensure it had better systems and processes in place to help rebuild community trust in planned burning."

In a statement released Wednesday evening, Mr Lapsley said: "Community members who have lost their properties are understandably upset and have a right to ask questions.

The report by the Inspector-General for Emergency Management will identify what was learnt from the fire, and opportunities for improvement across a range of operational and community engagement aspects of the fire."